No Plea Deal In Case Against Doctor Accused Of Sex Assault

April 23, 2013|BY DAVID OWENS, dowens@courant.com, The Hartford Courant

MIDDLETOWN — Dr. Tory Westbrook, the physician accused of sexually assaulting female patients at two locations, is likely to face a trial later this year.

His attorney, Norm Pattis, and Middlesex State's Attorney Peter McShane were unable to reach a plea agreement, the lawyers said Tuesday during an appearance by Westbrook in Superior Court in Middletown.

Judge David P. Gold told the lawyers and Westbrook to prepare for a trial in October. Westbrook, of Glastonbury, will return to court May 21 when McShane will tell Pattis which charges he intends to try first. There is a possibility Westbrook could face multiple trials.

He has 19 different cases pending in Superior Court in Middletown. He was first arrested in June 2012 by Clinton police.

Most cases involve allegations of inappropriate sexual contact with female patients at the Community Health Center in Clinton, where Westbrook practiced, and at a laser hair removal clinic Westbrook ran in Manchester.

One woman told Clinton police that she went to Westbrook for a sinus infection and he examined her breasts. In fact, the woman told police that every time she went to see Westbrook he examined her breasts, according to an arrest warrant.

On another visit for a stomach ailment, he allegedly examined her genital area and did not wear gloves. The woman told police, "The pelvic exam was not like any pelvic exam she ever had" with her gynecologist, according to the warrant for Westbrook's arrest.

In the Manchester cases, two women told police they went in for laser hair removal but Westbrook touched them inappropriately, according to arrest warrants.

A 42-year-old woman told Manchester Det. Max Cohen that she went to Westbrook at the Manchester spa to have hair removed from under her arms. The woman removed her shirt for the treatment but left her bra on, she told police. Westbrook, however, kept asking her to remove her bra, she told police, according to the warrant.

At a second visit, he again asked her to remove her bra, and also offered a free hair removal treatment to her bikini area, the warrant says. On her third visit, he again asked her to remove her bra and she again refused, she told police. Westbrook offered a full treatment of her bikini area, and she accepted, but asked him to stop when he told her he had to reach more intimate areas, according to the warrant.

On her final visit, she told police, Westbrook again removed hair from her underarms and bikini area. The woman said she had her eyes closed during the procedures but opened them during the final visit because "I felt something different." She looked down and saw Westbrook performing a sexual act on her, according to the warrant. He had also exposed himself, she told police.

In another case, the Medicaid fraud bureau in the chief state's attorney's office accused Westbrook of billing Medicaid for office visits during which he allegedly sexually assaulted patients.